FRAUD
PREVENTION & CONTROL
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As always, test your forms
before making any changes live.
Unfortunately, fraud has become a "way of life" for
credit card processing companies such as Visa,
MasterCard, and American Express. The costs associated
with fraud are passed on to the gateway, merchants,
and customers. We do our best to limit the amount
of fraud, and have created features to help you
do the same.
ABUSE/FRAUD REPORTING
If you determine that a customer is abusing your account by placing fraudulent
transactions, please let us know so that we may take appropriate action.
ADDRESS VERIFICATION SERVICE (AVS)
As part of every transaction processed, the customer's address and zip
code are sent to your processing network for AVS verification. The
processing network returns an AVS "code" indicating whether the customer-provided
information matches the information on file for the customer at their
processing bank.
The processing network will not decline transactions
based on an AVS response. However, the processing
network returns an AVS code so that the merchant
may decide whether or not to accept the transaction.
An AVS code indicating an address and/or zip
code match or mismatch is returned with each
authorization and displayed in your transaction
listing.
Since transactions are processed in real-time,
you, as the merchant, must choose to have the
payment gateway automatically void transactions
for which the customer's address and/or zip code
do not match. This is done via your AVS setting.
You must select one AVS setting for all of your
transactions, but you may change this at any
time via the "Account Settings" in your Control
Panel.
Note: Most non-US banks do not support AVS.
If you have foreign customers, you should consider
setting your account to "Allow All" to prevent
rejection of valid non-US transactions. As an
alternative, you may set up a second "foreign
only" account with its own AVS setting.
AVS Settings Available Are:
NO VERIFICATION -
All valid credit card transactions will be processed
regardless of the AVS response.
REQUIRE ZIP MATCH - Authorized
card transactions will be voided if the zip code entered by the customer
does not match the zip code on file at the processing bank.
REQUIRE ADDRESS MATCH - Authorized
card transactions will be voided if the address entered by the customer
does not match the address on file at the processing bank.
REQUIRE ADDRESS & ZIP MATCH - Authorized
card transactions will be voided unless both the address and zip code
entered by the customer match the information on file at the processing
bank.
CARD VERIFICATION VALUE CODE (CVV)
The CVV code is a security feature for "card not present" transactions
(e.g., Internet transactions), and now appears on most (but not all)
major credit and debit cards. This new feature is a three- or four-digit
code which provides a cryptographic check of the information embossed
on the card. Therefore, the CVV code is not part of the card number itself.
The CVV code helps ascertain that the customer
placing the order actually possesses the credit/debit
card and that the card account is legitimate.
Each credit card company has its own name for
the CVV code, but it functions the same for all
major card types. (VISA refers to the code as
CVV2, MasterCard calls it CVC2, and American
Express calls it CID.)
Please note that CVV data may not be stored
by the merchant and is not stored in our databases.
In addition, CVV options are not available
for all networks. Contact support for details
regarding your network.
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VISA/MASTERCARD
The three-digit CVV code is printed on the signature
panel on the back of the card immediately after
the card's account number, as show in this example:

Note that the CVV code is printed only on the back of Visa and Master
cards and it is not contained in the magnetic stripe information
nor does it appear on sales receipts or in confirmation emails.
AMERICAN EXPRESS
The four-digit CVV code is printed on the front of
the card above the card number. Note that this is not an embossed
code; it is printed directly on the plastic.
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As with AVS, you must select one CVV setting
for your account for all transactions. You may
change this at any time via the "Account Settings" in
your Control Panel. CVV Settings Available
Are:
NO AUTO-VOID -
All successful credit card transactions will
be processed, with or without a correct CVV entry.
VOID IF CVV NOT ENTERED - A customer's
transaction will be voided if the bank indicates that a CVV code should
exist on the card, but was not entered.
VOID UNLESS CVV MATCHES - A customer's
transaction will always be voided unless the CVV code entered matches.
Lookup Values for CVV Are:
M - Match
N - No
Match
P - Not
Processed
S - Issuer
indicates CVV2 should be present. Merchant indicates
not present.
U - Issuer
has not certified for CVV or has not provided
CVV encryption keys.
To include CVV functionality in your order form(s),
you'll need to include the following input variables:
<INPUT NAME="cvv2_number" SIZE=5>
<INPUT type=checkbox NAME="cvv2_illegible" value="1">
An example of this on your
form would look something like this:
For your protection, we require that you enter the "CVV" number from your
credit card.
VISA/MASTERCARD: The three-digit CVV
code is printed on the signature panel on the back of
the card immediately after the card's account number.
AMERICAN EXPRESS: The four-digit CVV
code is printed on the front of the card above the card
number. Note that this is not an embossed code; it is printed directly
on the plastic.
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